by Toby Aden
Red tinged Yves’s cheeks, moving up into his forehead to match the color of his hair. Wringing his hands together on his lap, Yves pulled his bottom lip into his mouth and bit down, worrying the delectable flesh. “Oh, um, I’m not sure…”
“Just a sip,” Apollo whispered, his gaze riveted to Yves’s lips as his heartbeat picked up.
Apollo poured a small amount into the glass and held it out for the younger man to accept. Yves reached out to accept the glass, and their hands overlapped and touched. Their eyes were both glued to where their fingers touched, staring at the difference between both hands.
At the touch of their hands, Yves felt tingles race up his body, shooting through him like an electrical field of pure, undiluted lust. A whimper escaped from Yves’s lips, and he felt as though his body was a yo-yo, hot one minute then relatively calm the next then shooting back hot once more.
Apollo’s nostrils flared as the scent of arousal teased him mercilessly. He was completely unaware of a small piece of the hard granite counter cracking and breaking into his palm where he tightened his hands against it. It was by sheer willpower, and even that only by a thread, that he was hanging on and remaining where he was.
If not for the rules and laws that governed the Fae as well as the implications it would have on the Fae and their mating bond, Apollo would be across the counter in a flash, taking his mate in every which way imaginable until he had slaked his lust, and even that would not be for a very, very long time. Immediately after Yves had been born, he had known the exact moment his beloved had come into the world.
He had been watching and waiting from afar for the youngling to hit his maturity age and enter into the cycle of the mating call to claim the young man. At this precise moment, it was both a curse and a blessing for Apollo that the waiting time was left with only a month. When he had heard the call from his mate, knowing deep in his heart that the young man was more troubled than ever, he had been unable to wait those few remaining years from a distance.
Eons had passed, but only the glimpse he had had of his destined mate as a gift had kept him sane and patient over the long wait for his mate. He could not sit back while the man struggled even if it was with himself. And yet, he had not taken into consideration the fact that having the man here with him would task his self-control, which was already on shaky grounds.
It also didn’t help any that the laws of the Fae discouraged a fated pair from claiming each other before the maturity age. Apollo could just imagine how hard this must be for his fated mate if he, at several centuries old, could still feel the most excruciating pain from keeping away. It was not normally like this for the Fae folk who met their fated mate before their maturity age. They were aware of the bond, but the feeling did not run this deep, and it was only like this because of who Apollo was.
To spare his mate from feeling the full brunt of the mating call, Apollo drew away most of the emotion from his oblivious mate into himself. With their genetic makeup, all Fae did not experience a lick of lust or sexual emotions until they hit their hundredth year. Then, they were bombarded with the ever-present mating call, itching through their body with the need to find and claim their true mates.
Those who were not lucky enough to find their mates on the first mating call suffered through the need and overpowering desire to mate yet could not because everyone else became repugnant to them. For the first two months, the itch was always there, never leaving, only gradually reducing until it finally disappeared until another hundred years, and then the cycle started all over again.
The law regarding abstinence until the hundredth year of the Fae kind was just to enforce and ensure that no one was blindsided. The desire to engage in any carnal act generally would never surface unless the mating call manifested or a true mate was found. To ensure that the mating was valid and healthy, the law stressed that the couple waited until the mating call was at its peak. Any other act until then would only cause a backlash on the couple who ignored the warnings, thus rendering their mating defective and shaky at best.
Forcing himself to rein in his out-of-control emotions, Apollo suppressed the need to mate, willing the same for Yves, who was now panting. Apollo removed his hand, watching the younger man like a hawk.
“Sorry,” Apollo apologized.
Yves’s mouth had gone dry, and he immediately used shaky hands to draw the glass toward his mouth, forgetting about the wine he had been unsure of drinking earlier. He downed the contents of the glass in one gulp and then returned it to the counter, all the while staring at Apollo, who was also watching him.
The drink hit him hard, burning through his throat and inducing a cough. His feet hit the floor, and he doubled over coughing, hitting his chest repeatedly while trying to soothe the strange tingling and the water burning at the back of his eyes. No sooner had he doubled over, than Apollo rushed over to stand beside him, patting him and rubbing soothing circles on the back.
Yves instinctively leaned into the touch, closing his watering eyes as he absorbed his mate’s strength. Gods but it was almost coma-inducing being in his mate’s arms. He could feel himself let go, even though he didn’t understand this up-and-down he was experiencing.
“You are my mate,” Yves said, speaking mostly to himself as he tried to make himself understand just what this whole mate thing would mean.
“Yes, youngling. I understand threads of what you are feeling, and I should not have showed up earlier, but I could not stay away.”
“You said that before also. What does it mean?”
“Come, sit, eat. I will explain,” Apollo said, directing the younger man onto the stool and settling himself beside Yves.
Apollo pulled the plate of fruit closer to them and offered one of the fruits to Yves, who was about to accept it with his hand but stopped at the shake of Apollo’s head. Apollo tried again, pushing the fruit closer to the man’s plump lips and waited patiently, watching with heavy-lidded eyes.
Suddenly shy once more, Yves tipped the corner of his lips into a hesitant smile before opening his mouth and accepting the food from Apollo. Yves bit into the soft, succulent fruit, chewing even while some of the juice dribbled down the side of his mouth.
Apollo leaned forward and used his thumb to wipe the juice then put his thumb into his mouth, sucking the juice from his finger. He watched in fascination as Yves continued chewing with his face heating up and juice still dripping out. Once again, he brushed the liquid away with his thumb and then swallowed it into his mouth, eyes trained on Yves’s all the while.
Yves ducked his head in embarrassment and then glanced up again with his gaze glued to the thumb inside Apollo’s mouth. His thoughts trailed to how he wished he were that thumb, licked in that slow, sensitive, and sexual manner.
“You said you would explain,” Yves prompted, swallowing with difficulty.
“Mmm.” Apollo hummed. “How much do you know about the mated pair?”
“I overheard my parents explaining it to my brother, Aaeren, and he’s also taken a mate, so I know some.”
“Keep going.”
“I know that a fated pair cannot consummate the mating until the full maturity age, which is the hundredth year. Because it is the peak of the mating call, a consummation before then would render problems with the bond. I also know that until the first peak of the mating call, no Fae feels any sort of sexual attraction…” Yves paused, blushing as the words left his mouth, but Apollo only waved him to continue. “Except when a Fae is over a hundred years.”
“I’m sure you’re wondering why it is you are feeling the sexual tension between us when you have not yet hit your peak.” Apollo nodded, seeing the question reflected in Yves’s expressive golden gaze. “It is because our mating is no ordinary one.”
Chapter Three
“What does that mean?” Yves asked, wary of the answer.
“I know this may be hard for you to believe, beloved, but you must trust that I will never lie to you. Can you do that? Believe
that no matter how hard it may seem, I would never lie, even if the truth might hurt you.”
“I—you’re asking for a lot. You want my trust, but I know nothing of you.”
Apollo reached forward and took Yves’s masculine yet beautifully slender hand. “We are mates. Of that, there is no doubt, and I know this is asking a lot, but I will never take your trust for granted, and I need you to know that I would never lie to you before I can tell you about myself and who I really am.”
He locked gazes with Apollo, searching for something and seemingly satisfied by what he saw in Apollo’s eyes, Yves nodded, mumbling a soft “okay.”
“I am not Fae. I am not mortal, either. I am a god.”
“What?”
“A Greek god, to be more precise. When you asked me about the Greek god of mythology, that is me—Apollo—and my home is Mount Olympus.”
Yves stared, his expression frozen in shock as he stared at the man before him. He was at a loss for words, staring dumbly at Apollo, silently waiting for the laughter that would dispel these words as a joke. When the laughter didn’t come, and his mate continued to stare at him with seriousness, he slowly shook his head.
It couldn’t possibly be true. No one had ever seen the gods before, though there were rumors about them, yet here was one sitting before him and claiming they were mates.
“Say something, youngling.”
Yves was silent still, not uttering a single word, and when Apollo was about to prompt him once more, Yves finally asked, “Why do you call me youngling?”
Apollo cocked his head to the side, thrown by the question pulled out of nowhere. “With how long I have been in existence, you are but a youngling to me. But I also say it as an endearment.”
“Why me?”
Apollo frowned, not understanding the question. “What do you mean?”
“Why am I your mate? There are plenty others. I mean if you really are a god what could you possibly want with…me?” Yves asked, saying the “me” as though he should be beneath the attention of such a powerful being.
Apollo squeezed Yves hand tightly, and then when he saw Yves wince, he softened his grip and caressed the offended limb with his thumb. “I don’t ever want to hear you refer to yourself in that manner as though you are not important. Even without you being my mate, you are very much important and don’t you ever think otherwise.”
Yves smiled faintly, secretly pleased to see the level of protection Apollo already seemed to display for him.
“And as to why you, you as well as I know very well that fate chooses our mate. It’s not up to us, and even then, the one who is our fated mate is the same as our soul mate. The one most compatible with us, our one true love, the one who completes us, and even though we have not known each other for long, I am sure we will develop strong feelings for each other.”
Yves nodded, seeming to agree with what Apollo was telling him. “A god?” he mused to himself.
“Would you like to see my home in Olympus to believe me?” Apollo asked.
Yves shook his head furiously, his eyes wide as though the thought never occurred to him, which it hadn’t. He narrowed his gaze. “If your home is not here, when and why did you move here?”
Apollo ran a hand over his face, sighing. “As I said earlier, I had no intention of meeting with you until your hundredth birthday, which is but a month from now. What I didn’t tell you was why. I felt your distress. I have been watching over you from the beginning, awed by the changes my mate experienced.”
Yves frowned and back away slightly. “You’ve been watching me?”
“You have to understand. I was promised a mate by the oracle, I was promised that one would be given to me with time. I never thought it would take centuries for that promise to come true. I waited the first half century, then another half, then another, and then another until I lost track of just how long I was to wait till the time came. Then something suddenly changed. At first, I didn’t recognize it. Didn’t know what it was, but the steady beat and thumping kept distracting me until I looked, and there you were. The most precious Fae ever to be born.”
Yves gasped in surprise. “You knew when I was born?”
“I felt it, yes. So how could I not watch over you? And I felt your distress, your restlessness, but it never got as serious until two years ago. That’s when I decided to move here. Temporarily of course. I couldn’t stay here forever. I tried to stay away from you until it was okay to meet you, but I couldn’t ignore your panic, and you know the rest.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
Apollo nodded. “You should know that unlike every other mating, because I am not a Fae and am immortal, a god, the mating call is…how do I put this? Intensified and everything you feel right now is but a mirage of that and what you will actually feel on that day.”
“I don’t understand. What do you mean by a mirage?”
“For lack of better words to explain, the reality is that your people do not experience any type of attraction of the sexual and mating kind until they hit the peak of the mating call. Even those fortunate enough to find their true mates before that time, they are aware that, yes, this is their true mate, as they connected on a spiritual and intellectual manner. The perfect match, but there is no sexual attraction to mate before they are ready to bond.”
“Okay. So why does it feel different with me? At times, I am overwhelmed with the attraction I feel for you, but it comes and goes.”
“Lust. What you feel is but a mirage. It feels exactly like the mating call, but it is not. Should we act on this, our bonding will be doomed even before it is started.”
“You are saying this is not the call I am feeling.”
“Exactly. It’s just a reflection of it, and being who I am, your body reacts and sees it as the true mating call. What you have been feeling is an urge to mate. To fulfill the call with your rightful mate and since your whole body has gotten out of sort, if we don’t act on it, you could get seriously ill. I have been suppressing and reinforcing the mating urge you feel, drawing it to me,” Apollo said.
Yves shook his head, not fully understanding what Apollo was explaining to him. “I do not understand.”
“In much simpler terms, you could say what I’ve been doing is more like siphoning it off of you. Think of it like a tap that leaks. It is still there, but if I don’t reinforce, it would overwhelm you to the point that your body will not contain it.”
“In other words, I am doomed either way, should I act on the call or not.”
Apollo squeezed Yves’s hand in comfort. “I’m sorry. If I had exercised more patience, you would not be put through this.”
Yves shook his head in disagreement. “No, don’t. You were right when you said I was in distress. Had you not shown up, I am not sure I would have fared much better. I felt so restless and depressed and was slowly sinking into my own mind. I would have become useless if something hadn’t happened to snap me out of it, but ever since you came, even though I never knew about your presence, ever since two years ago, there have been times I felt more relaxed. I never quite knew why I would feel a measure of peace and that feeling grew stronger whenever I took a stroll down the path. I should have known there was a reason behind it. It must have registered somehow subconsciously in me, but I never thought much of it.”
Yves smiled at Apollo, conveying the words he could not fully express. “And I am suddenly very exhausted. I never slept well before. Sometimes, I go days without a wink of sleep, but I feel…sleepy,” Yves said in wonder.
“Then off to bed you go, youngling,” Apollo said, grinning as he swept Yves into his arms and carried him into the bedroom.
Yves let out a sound of surprise as he was swept into masculine arms before he buried his face into Apollo’s neck, breathing in the clean, all-male, tantalizing scent that teased his nostrils. He rested his head against Apollo’s chest, thinking to allow his drooping lids to close for a minute, but instead, he went out like a light.
Apollo smiled when he realized the smaller man had relaxed completely into his arms and fallen asleep. He dropped a kiss on the orange-red hair and then gently laid Yves on the bed. He pulled the covers up and over the young man, patting it gently as he stared into the innocent sleeping face of this wonder given to him, angelic in its beauty.
Forcing himself to withdraw, Apollo turned on his heels and headed for the door, intending to leave the man to his slumber. Fingering the doorknob, Apollo twisted it and pulled open the barrier that would separate him from his mate once he closed it behind him. With one step outside the door and one in, Apollo paused, turned back, and glanced at Yves’s sleeping form.
Invisible strings pulled him back to the one fast asleep in his bed. Padding closer, Apollo left the door in his wake partly opened, drawing closer to the other man. He stood over the bed, staring down into the peaceful face, which had softened and cleared in sleep.
Compelled, he lowered himself down onto the bed, sitting beside his sleeping mate and began gently trailing a hand over Yves’s cheek. His gaze soft, he stared tenderly at his mate in wonder, marveling at the long wait he had endured to meet his destined love.
He shifted Yves’s loose locks in his hand, enjoying the feel of the silky texture between his fingers. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to Yves’s forehead, lingering and savoring the taste and scent of the much younger man.
Decision firmly made, Apollo pulled back and reclined next to Yves, pulling him into his arms until Yves was left sprawling over the bigger man’s chest. Gently caressing the man who was completely oblivious to the world around him in slumber, Apollo closed his eyes and fell asleep.
* * * *
Yves woke to the feel of heat surrounding him, sweet, delicious heat, and a wall behind him. He felt hands holding him tight against the wall and a reminder of the most delicious dream he had ever had brought a smile to his lips. He sighed contentedly, rubbing his cheek against the arm under his head. Such a nice dream he was having, and he didn’t want to wake up from it!
